


Alright Tonight

by arcanesupernova



Series: Always Have Been, Always Will Be - A Series of One-Shots [8]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, F/M, getting found out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24368992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanesupernova/pseuds/arcanesupernova
Summary: Ted didn't know that Charlotte was seeing other people until he showed up at her door.
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Series: Always Have Been, Always Will Be - A Series of One-Shots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099445
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Alright Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I'm like a week late to this coming out but I had to. There was too much angst.
> 
> Charlotte's lovers name decided by wifiblitz in the CharTed server because i make terrible naming decisions.

She didn’t know why she couldn’t just tell him before it came to this.

Their relationship wasn’t serious by any stretch of the imagination. It was a couple nights a month, he would take her home and make her feel alive for just under an hour before she’d grab her things and head home. It was nothing.

It wasn’t ‘nothing’ to Ted however, judging by the look on his face. She didn’t dare speak, not wanting to hurt his feelings any more than she already had but the silence was weighing on her. His jaw was dropped as he looked at her, the bag of food in his hand only held on the tip of his fingers. Jeremiah, the man she had met at the coffee shop a week ago, looked between the two of them.

“Shit! Your husband is home!” he exclaimed, ducking behind her to avoid what he must have assumed would be swings of fury.

Ted let out a bark of laughter, dropping the food at her feet before turning on his heel and going back to his car. Charlotte’s chest ached as she watched him walk away, wanting to call out for him, to apologize but she stood frozen in the breezeway, watching as Ted climbed back into his car and sped off.

When everything started, it had been with Ted. He consoled her after a fight over the phone with Sam and offered to take her for a drink after work to clear her head. One drink turned into two, then three, then four until her entire body tingled. Ted’s hand grazed hers as he reached for the check, insisting that he paid for it. She didn’t argue. She was too preoccupied with the eruption of butterflies at the thought of him sitting there with eyes only for her. She felt alive.

So she took him home. It was sloppy, it was passionate, it was everything that she’d been missing from Sam. His hands scoured her body for every inch of flesh as he kissed against her hallway wall. She woke up the next morning to find Ted gone but a text on her phone let her know it wasn’t personal.

Charlotte didn’t know when the affair became more than just an affair for Ted, but she did notice the mornings when he stayed. It was always mornings that she’d told him Sam wouldn’t be home but he would stay until she told him to leave. It was exciting with Ted. Stolen glances, whispered words of affection under his breath in the office… She loved every moment of it. So much so that she wanted more, so when her therapist offered to help her more physically she took him up on the offer.

The other men didn’t treat her like Ted did though. Most of the time she was kicked out as soon as they were done and never called again, but not Ted. Just two weeks ago she had gone home with Ted and the next morning he had breakfast ready for them. She couldn’t pinpoint when he started to go the extra mile for her, but she did appreciate it even if she did go right back home to Sam. He didn’t seem to mind, or at least she thought.

Jeremiah left shortly after Ted, having lost his interest after seeing him. Charlotte plopped down onto the couch and let herself get mad at Ted for even showing up. Sure, she had mentioned Sam was out of town but it hadn’t been an invitation. Further, Ted had no claim on her. Who was he to get mad that she was sleeping with someone else? Sure, she hadn’t told him and sure, when he asked what she was doing in Sam’s absence she avoided the subject completely but he had no right to be upset. He wasn’t her boyfriend.

Charlotte opened the bag of food, surprised to find Chinese food and a fair amount of sushi. Her anger softened at the thought put into the order. She had taken Ted to her favorite Chinese take out restaurant what felt like ages ago and he still remembered her order. She pulled out her phone and dialed Ted’s phone number even though she knew he probably wouldn’t answer. The line trilled in her ear for a couple seconds before he finally picked up.

“What do you want, Charlotte?” Ted barked into the phone.

“Ted, come back, alright? Just talk to me, I can explain-”

“Charlotte, I really don’t care, I just wish you would have told me,” Ted cut her off. “You’re not my girlfriend, no matter how much I wish you were. I needed that reality check. Thank you.”

“Oh, Ted, please come back. We can eat and talk and-”

“I’m not gonna do that, Charlotte,” Ted cut through again, “I let myself get caught up and all fucked up so you always want it to be the last time, so consider last Thursday the last time.”

“So you’re fine with cheating, as long as it’s with you?” Charlotte snapped back, her anger flaring up again.

“No, Char, I’m fine with cheating in general. Most of the sexual intercourse I’ve had as an adult has been with women who took their rings off before they got into bed with me,” Ted told her with a humorous laugh, “I just made the mistake of letting it go on too long with you. It’s okay, I get it. I was wrong.”

“Ted, please.”

“No, Charlotte,” he repeated firmly. “I can’t see you right now. Work’s gonna suck but I can just-”

“Ted, I know you’re in love with me.” It was Charlotte’s turn to cut him off and the silence on the other end of the line confirmed her assumption.

“Charlotte,” he said finally with a laugh, “I’m not in love with you.”

“Then come over.”

“I’m not coming back there to be a part of your weird swinger fetish.”

“Ted, I need you.”

Those words were the ones she only used in extreme cases. They were a failsafe that would get Ted over there as soon as possible and sure enough, she heard a turn signal flip on and the car accelerate on the other end of the line.

“It’s the last time, Charlotte,” he told her, a coldness in his voice. “I’m not going to give you some stupid ultimatum, I’m just going to see myself out after tonight.”

“Teddy, please.” Tears stung her eyes at the thought of never seeing him again, at least the way she was accustomed to. The line went dead and the tears poured down her face. She was still in tears when he finally knocked on the door. She tried to compose herself but only wiped away her tears before yanking the door open. Ted’s face went from irritation to compassion before going stony as he pushed past her.

“Charlotte, don’t do this,” he started, keeping his back to her, “I can’t do this with you if you’re not going to be honest with me.”

“Teddy, I’m sorry,” she croaked, wrapping her arms around him. He tensed under her touch but as she sobbed into his back, he let out a sigh and turned around to hold her. “I know I’m being selfish- I should have told you but I just didn’t know how.”

“I get that Charlotte, I do, but I don’t know if I can trust you,” he said, despite rubbing her back. “How many people have you been with? Do I need to get tested? There is more than just my stupid feelings at stake.”

“Th-There’s only been a few,” she admitted, “G-Gary Goldstein, my therapist-”

“Hold on, your therapist?” Ted exclaimed, pulling her away from him to look down in her eyes. “What in the fuck kind of therapy are you going through?”

“He was just really nice to me,” she told him defensively. “It was after one of my sessions with Sam and Sam had just walked out and-”

“Nope, nope, I don’t need the nitty-gritty details,” Ted stopped her, holding his hands up.

“Listen, Teddy, if it means you won’t leave, I’ll stop. I just-”

“Charlotte, sweetheart, how am I supposed to believe that?” Ted reasoned with her. “It’s just better off if we stop.”

“Do you want that, Ted? Or are you just doing it to make me feel bad?” Charlotte bristled, wrapping her arms around her. 

“Of course I don’t want to stop fucking you, Charlotte, but I’m not going to sit here and let you walk all over the feelings I stupidly let myself have for you.”

“So you do.”

“So I do what?”

“You love me.”

Ted stiffened at the accusation, struggling with himself. He was quiet for a while, leaving them both at a stand-off.

“Do you love me?” he asked finally, his eyes red.

“Oh, Teddy, you know I care about you deeply-”

“No Charlotte, I asked you if you loved me.”

“I love being with you, I love how you make me feel when we’re together-”

“But you don’t love me,” Ted finished for her, a rogue sniffle exposing just how much this was hurting him.

“I- I love Sam, Ted,” she said, carefully choosing her words. “If that’s what love feels like, then no, I don’t love you.”

Ted stared at her a moment before letting out a watery chuckle and sitting down on the couch.

“Food’s still hot. You wanna eat?”

“So that’s it? You’re just okay with that answer?”

“I’m not going to pretend you’re making sense, but I get what you mean.”

“Will you-” Charlotte paused, fighting the urge to let another wave of tears free, “-Will you tell me?”

“Tell you what, Charlotte?” Ted sighed, looking up from the bag.

“Tell me you love me.” Her voice was no more than a whisper, as she stood trembling before him. He sighed and stood up, pulling her into his arms.

“Charlotte, I love you so much,” he admitted, “I love you so much that it hurts me to see you like this, begging for love and affection.”

“I’m not-”

“Listen to me,” he cut her off softly, pulling her back enough to look into her eyes, “If I believed in that kind of thing, I would tell you that you were the love of my life. That every morning when I wake up I think of you and when I go to sleep you’re the last thing I think about. Is that the declaration of love you’re looking for?”

“Is it true?”

“Charlotte, we both know it is.”

“Ted, I… I love you too,” she said finally, letting out a watery chuckle.

“No you don’t,” he said with warm eyes and an equally watery chuckle. “You do whatever the opposite of love is, because you love Sam and I don’t ever want you to feel the way you do about Sam about me.”

“You know that doesn’t make any sense, right?”

“I really don’t think it has to.”


End file.
